Inside Unmanned Systems

APR-MAY 2018

Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.

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ENGINEERING. PRACTICE. POLICY.
39 April/May 2018 unmanned systems
inside
Even though the vehicles will f ly autono-
mously, those deployed as part of Uber Elevate
will have pilots at first to handle any unfore-
seen situations that may arise during a trip.
"We'll be able to generate the data we need to
make the case to eventually take the pilots out.
It's the same concept as with self-driving cars.
You have a safety driver," Prevot said. "Certain
routes will be less complex, and in those in-
stances we'll be able to make the safety case
for f lying the aircraft without a pilot sooner."
Taking the pilot out makes it possible to add
another passenger, Prevot said, which helps
keep prices down—which is vital to making
UAM successful.
"A lot of people see Volocopters and think
they're a new toy for the rich," Treeck said. "We
want this to become part of the public transpor-
tation system, so it must be affordable. It's not
like a private jet, but more like the cost of a cab."
THE INFRASTRUCTURE
A UTM system is critical to making f lying air
taxis possible, Kopardekar said, and must be
a solution that doesn't burden the current air
traffic management systems while handling
large-scale, high-density operations. That's
one of the pieces NASA is working on and is
Kopardekar's area of focus.
To alleviate the burden, Uber Elevate plans
to develop a corridor where they manage their
own f leets that are separated from other air-
craft, Prevot said.
Volocopter intends to do the same, and will
establish a route in the next two to three years.
That first route won't be a full system but a
point-to-point connection that allows people
to experience the aircraft, Treeck said. They
also expect to receive a special license for a
corridor that's reserved for Volocopter.
"The vehicles will have to integrate into un-
controlled airspace occupied by drones and
other aircraft, but we'll also have f lights to
airports so they'll have to integrate into con-
trolled airspace operations as well," Prevot
said. "Combining those two in a smooth way is
a specific challenge that's going to have to be
addressed. We need to scale without burden-
ing air traffic control."
These aircraft won't be taking off and land-
ing on city streets or in parking lots, Thomsen
said; they'll f ly from vertiport to vertiport
where passengers will either walk, take a
ground vehicle, or catch the subway to reach
their final destination. That means for air taxis
to become part of the transportation system,
vertiports will need to be created.
Vertiports may be placed on existing build-
ings or even integrated into our highways,
Drennan said. In some cases, sky ports will be
part of the designs of new buildings. The UAM
infrastructure will likely be a combination of
both old and new, with the network starting
out small and growing over time.
For this all to work smoothly, a mechanism
needs to be developed so passengers can easily
UAM WILL REDUCE
CONGESTION, REDUCE
TRANSPORTATION
DELAYS AND ENABLE
ON-DEMAND TRAVEL
TO DELIVER CARGO AND
QUICKLY MOVE PEOPLE
THROUGH THE AIR."
"
Parimal Kopardekar, senior
technologist for air transportation
systems, NASA Ames Research
Center